BROOCH

A cast copper-alloy knob from an early Anglo-Saxon florid cruciform brooch. It is in the form of a Salin Style I human face mask with chip carved decoration and spatulate terminal end in the form of a moustache ending in upward-curling inward-facing beaked predatory birds' heads. The top of the face/head is rectangular in form with prominent transverse brow. Beneath the brow are projecting, curved eyebrows that join at the centre of the plate before expanding to form a flattened triangular nose. Either side of the nose are globular eyes, with projecting rounded cheeks beneath. At the base of the head is the spatulate terminal with central triangular projection extending from the centre of the nose and forming a slight semi-circular knop at the base of the terminal. To either side are the inward facing bird heads forming oval shaped apertures to either side of he face. They have bands of punched semi-circular decoration along their necks, with punched circular eyes and moulded beaks with central grooves that join the cheeks of the face mask. The back of the knob is flat and undecorated. At the top of the late it has an integrally cast rectangular lug that is semi-circular in section and with a central circular aperture. The remains of iron corrosion surrounding it indicate this was probably attached to the brooch by means of an iron bar or pin. Beneath the lug is a recessed triangular groove, now mostly obscured by corrosive products. The knob measures 22.52mm in length, 29.20mm in width, 7.43mm in thickness (at lug, 2.83mm at terminal), and weighs 8.53g.

This is a knob in Salin's Style I from a florid cruciform brooch of Anglo-Saxon date, possibly from the top or sides of the headplate. It finds parallels in other examples recorded through the PAS database (notably SF-9E3A17, SF-1A1C04, LIN-415104, NLM947, DENO-DD64A4, NLM4515) and dates to the 6th century AD.